The lead and copper mines of Wythe.
The mineral resources of
Virginia must now be looked upon with more interest than ever by the
Southern people.
The following letter, dated
Hillsville, Carroll county, Va, July 4th, furnishes information and makes suggestions which not only capitalists, but the Confederate Government, would do well to reflect upon and turn to advantage:
I find myself, for the first time in my life, away down here amid the
hills of this Southwestern part of the
State, and have been deeply interested in what I have seen and heard of the topography and history of this region.
On my way I paid a visit to that most interesting, and now
especially important region, the ‘"lead mines"’ of Why the. It is to these mines we must look for those
interesting missives that our brave boys know so well how to transmit in and to the cowardly carcasses of
Lincoln's minions, when they can have even the half of a chance, and none, among all our troops, with more unerring accuracy than the hardy sharp-shooters of
Carroll.
The polite and gentlemanly manager of the mines,
Mr. Wm. Kohler, kindly accompanied my friend and myself through the mazy windings of the drifts and tunnels, and at a depth of 225 feet I selected a beautiful specimen of the rich ore to carry home with me. The quantity is unlimited.
The yield of lead is equal to three tons per day, and the mines and furnaces are worked day and night, Sabbath included — the pressing wants of the service requiring it. The quantity of buckshot made per day would be equal to at least five per carcass of each
Lincoln soldier now anywhere near to
Virginia.
Besides the mines referred to, I ought to mention the operations of
Judge Fulton in manufacturing lead, one mile below the first named, and where he is making from one and a half to three tons per week.
The are is inexhaustible, and the per cent.
of zine with it, it is thought, will pay a fair profit to separate it, yet it has not been done.
I called to see the copper mines of this region, now suspended, and mainly for the reason the ore must be sent to
Baltimore to be extracted--(shame on the want of enterprise in
Virginia, that we can't have a smelting establishment in
Lynchburg or
Richmond.--Urge it,
Mr. Editor, on our people, and there is no need to wait for a cessation of hostilities.) To conceive of the mineral wealth of this region would require an imagination of a more comprehensive character than Virginias usually carry, without meaning to disparage the size of their knowledge-boxes in the least.
